Stapling mechanism



June 7, 1955 J. T. MURRELL ET AL 2,709,808

STAPLING MECHANISM Filed Dec. 50, 1952 a Sheets-Sheet 1 June 7, 1955 J. T. MURRELL ET AL STAPLING MECHANISM 6 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Dec. 30, 1952 June 1955 J. T. MURRELL ETAL 2,709,808

STAPLING MECHANISM 0M 151M059 6M 14% 6 Sheets-Sheet 3 fwd I m1 H H m Filed D80. 50, 1952 June 7, 1955 J. T. MURRELL ETAL 2,709,308

STAPLING MECHANISM Filed Dec. 30, 1952 6 SheetsSheet 4 June 7, 1955 J. T. MURRELL ET AL STAPLING MECHANISM 6 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed Dec. 30, 1952 J1me 1955 J. T. MURRELL ET AL 2,709,803

STAPLING MECHANISM Filed Dec. 30, 1952 6 Sheets-Sheet 6 STAPLING MECHANISM John Thomas Murrell, Barking, John Alfred Gladden,

London, and Robert Norman Dew, Carshalton, England, assignors to R. W. Crabtree & Sons Limited, Leeds, England, a company of Great Britain Application December 30, 1952, Serial No. 328,578

Claims priority, application Great Britain January 8, 1952 9 Claims. (Cl. 1-7) This invention relates to rotary stapling mechanism in tended to form and to insert staples in plies to be stapled together. a

The invention is concerned with mechanism which comprises a staple-holding cylinder having a recess into which a punch in a punch cylinder forces a staple-forming length of wire to form the required staple, which remains held in the recess until, later in the rotation of the holding cylinder, the staple is ejected from the recess, the legs of the staple being forced through the plies to be stapled and being turned-over or clenched by clenching dies.

Such mechanism is well adapted for high speed operation as compared with the more normal type employed in for example rotary web printing machines where usually a length of wire which is fed in a direction transverse to the direction of run of the webs is forced by a cylinder to pass through a tapering horn which (as the wire sweeps through it) bends over the ends of the wire to form the staple: because of the necessity to force the wire at high speed through the horn, the heat generated would tend with the high speed of operation which is being called for to cause operational difficulties.

In web printing operations it is frequently required to run the machine for what is termed non-collect and collect runs: in a non-collect run it is required to insert a staple in the running webs at each sheet or product length: in a collect run however, the webs having been cut transversely into sheet lengths are not passed straight on to the delivery but every other sheet length is associated with another sheet length to form the collected product which is then stapled by a transverse staple.

Now one object of this invention is to provide a nited States Patent stapling mechanism which not only uses a staple-holding cylinder in place of the staple-forming horn but which is also capable of being set to effect stapling for collect and non-collect runs.

A further object of the invention is to provide an arrangement which will be well suited for high speed operation with a minimum of parts.

It is usual in rotary stapling mechanism for transverse stapling to employ a transverse beak which is rotated past the transverse wire feed and engages behind a cut length of stapling wire and carries it forward: now the present invention achieves its main object by so mounting the beak on the staple-holding cylinder that it can be moved into and out of wire-taking position: the invention would also include control means which can be set to take a length of staple-forming wire in each rotation of the cylinder (for a non-collect run) or once in every other rotation of the cylinder (for a collect run). Furthermore provision would be made to vary the rate of feed of wire to suit the demand for a non-collect or a collect run.

A beak would be arranged at each side of the stapleforming recess in the staple-holding cylinder or (as it is usual to insert at least two transverse staples in line across the width of a sheet) a beak would be provided on both sides of each recess. As, for a collect run, the wire feed rate would be one-half that for a non-collect run, the wire will not have spanned both beaks and to achieve the purpose of the invention it is necessary to hold only one of each pair of beaks in non-taking P.. $,i t;ion for a collect run.

To achieve the second object of this invention the staple-holding cylinder is equipped with what may be termed a double-ended plunger one end of which is operated on by the staple-forming punch to drive the staple which had, earlier in the rotation of the holding cylinder, been formed against the other end.

The punch would usually be the same punch (on a punch cylinder) as that which operated to form the staple by thrusting the length of wire into the staple-forming recess or, depending on the relative diameters of the holding and punch cylinders, it could be another punch on that cylinder.

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings in which Figure 1 is a diagrammatic side elevation, of a printing machine equipped to deliver collect and non-collect products. Figure 2 is a local end elevation of the cylinders incorporating mechanism in accordance With this invention, Figure 3 is an elevation looking approximately in the direction of the arrow III, Figure 2, Figure 4 is a sectional side elevation of parts of the mechanism shown in Figure 3 but to a larger scale, Figure 5 is a local sectional elevation to a larger scale of certain of the parts shown in Figure 3, Figure 6 is a section taken on the line VIVI, Figure 5, Figure 7 is a perspective view of the parts shown in Figures 4, 5 and 6, Figure 8 is a transverse section to a larger scale of the main parts of the mechanism according to this invention, and Figure 9 is a local end elevation showing other parts of the mechanism.

GENERAL DESCRIPTION y and a gutter cylinder 37 having respectively a knife 38 and a gutter 39. These parts operate to sever the web into product lengths.

The leading end of the web W is (before the cutting operation takes place) taken by any one of three sets of sheet taking pins 40, 41, 42 on a collecting cylinder 2 equipped also with folding blades 43, 44, 45 which operate to deflect the centre of a sheet between folding-off rollers 3, 4 which draw the sheet (or sheets) from the pins on the collecting cylinder 2 and pass the sheets on to a delivery as a folded product.

When a non-collecting run is required the pins 40, 41, 42 and the folding blades 43, 44, 45 are operated in each rotation of the cylinder 2 so as take the leading end of the web to carry it past the rollers 3, 4 whereupon they release the leading end as the associated folding blade 43, 44, 45 is operated to deflect the sheet (severed by this time from the web W) into the folding rollers. Thus in a non-collect run the sheet (or product) lengths pass straight through the machine.

In the case however of a collect run, the pins 40, 41, 42 and the folding blades 43, 44, 45 are operated in every other revolution of the cylinder 2. Thus taking the pin 40 and the associated folding blade 43 as an example, in one revolution the pin will be projected to take the leading end of the web W, will retain charge of that leading end after the cutting cylinders 36, 37 have severed the sheet,.length from it and will continue to retain charge for the remainder of the revolution of the cylinder 2. The folding blade 43 will at the same time be inactive in the rotation in question.

in the result therefore as the cylinder 2 commences its next revolution, the pin 49 still holdingthe sheet first taken will also take the fresh leading and of the web W and-"so the sheet originally taken by the pin 40 will be associated with a further sheet (or sheets) which will thus be collected with or supelposed on that first taken. In the second rotation the pin is will carry the collected sheets past the rollers 3, 4' but will be retracted to release the sheets as the folding blade 43 (which is operative in this rotation) deflects the collected sheets at their centres to between the folding rollers 3, 4. The various sets of pins and folding blades operate in the same manner so that a succession of collected products passes off to the folding rollers 3, 4.

The invention is concerned with stapling together the sheets of a non-collect run when the sheets are cut from a number of super-posed Webs (i. e. when the web run W consists of a number of associated Webs) and with stapling together the sheets of a collected product whether the web lead W consists of a single web or of associated webs. stapling mechanism which is capable of being set to suit either a non-collect or a collect run.

Wire feed and cut-015 Referring to Figure 2, the stapling mechanism consists of a feed for the staple forming wire 8, a punch cylinder 5 and a stapleholding cylinder 6 which cooperates with the collecting cylinder 2. In the arrangement shown it is required to insert two staples across the width of the sheets and accordingly the wire feed, the staple-forming and inserting parts are duplicated and in what follows the same reference will be applied to corresponding parts of the duplicated mechanism.

Referring now to Figures 2 9, staple forming wire 8 is taken from a feed spool 9 by feed rollers 10, 11 which advance the end of the Wire through a guide tube 9' past a cutter 12, pivoted on a fixed pivot 12, the end of the wire being fed to the periphery of the holding cylinder 6 and being advanced parallel with the axis of rotation of that cylinder.

The holding cylinder 6 is formed in its periphery with a recess 15 at the two-ends of which are wire-taking beaks 28, 28'. The beak 28 is fixed in relation to the periphery of the holding cylinder 6 and is more remote from the Wire feed rolls 1.0, 11 than is the beak 28.

The beak 28 is carried on an arm 46 mounted on a spindle 4'7 journalled in the cylinder 6 and this arm also carries a striker block or cam 48 to operate the cutter 12.

The spindle 4'7 has mounted on it an arm 49 having a roller 59 entering a cam track in a cam ring 51. This cam ring is mounted on the shaft 52 which carries the staple-holding cylinder 6. The cam ring 51 can be rigidly connected to the shaft 52 by a sliding pin clutch operated by a screw 53 slidable in a slot 54 in the shaft. The cam ring can also be freed from direct drive connection with the shaft by operating the screw 53 for the purpose of enabling the cam ring to be rotated at one half the speed of the shaft through gears 55, 56, 57, and 58 of which the gear 55 is fast with the shaft 52, the gear 58 is fast with a sleeve 59 which is rotatable on the shaft 52 and can be connected to the cam ring 51 while the gears 56, 57 are fixed together and rotatable on an eccentric sleeve 60 which is mounted on a stub 60 and by the angular movement of which the gears 56, 57 can be moved out of mesh with the 'gears Operation 0 wire feed In the operation of the parts so far described, if the machine is to beset for a non-collect run it will be The invention therefore provides a v all) required to insert a staple in each rotation of the cylinder 6. Therefore a length of staple-forming wire will be required to be severed and taken from the feed wire 8 at each rotation of the cylinder 6. To effect this the gears 56, 57 are moved out of mesh and the screw 53 is operated to connect the cam ring 51 to the spindle 52. The cam ring 51 would be set and locked in a position to hold the arm 49, the spindle 47 and the arm 46 in the position in which the knife operating block '48 and the beak 28 are in the fully out position. In each rotation therefore the beaks 28, 28 will both engagethe end of the wire 8 at the same time that the striker 48 engages the cutter 12 to cause it to sever a staple forming length of the wire. This length of wire will consequently be straddled across the recess 15.

When the parts are set for a collect run, it will be required to insert a staple at every other revolution of the cylinder 6. Therefore a length of stable-forming wire will require to be taken at every other revolution of the cylinder 6. To effect this the screw 53 is operated to free the cam ring 51 from the shaft 52 and the gears 56, 57 and moved into mesh with the gears 55, 58. The cam ring 51 will now be driven at one half the speed of the shaft '52 with the result that the arm 49, the spindle 47 and the arm 46 will be locked to project the striker 48 and the beak 28 only once in two revolutions. Thus although the Wire 8 is continuously fed, it is only in every other'rotation of the cylinder 6 that the end part of the wire is severed and taken by the beak and therefore a length of wire is straddled across the recess 15 only at every other revolution.

The feeding rate of the wire 8 can be changed from full rate (for non-collect runs) to half rate for collect runs. Before describing how this is effected it is to be noted that when the feed rate is at half speed, the end of the wire 8 will pass only about one half-way across the recess 15 in one revolution of the cylinder. As the wire will therefore not be-in line with the outermost beak 23, this beak can as is shown be fixed to the cylinder 6, only the beak 28 requiring to be operated by the cam ring 51. For feeding the wire at full or one half speed the wire-feeding rolls 10, 11 are driven by a spindle 25 which transmits rotation to the spindle of one roll 10 through worm and worm wheel gearing 25', the spindle's -of the two rolls being intergeared by gears 25 The spindle 25 is itself driven at full or one half speed from a gear 24 on the shaft 52 of the cylinder 6 and either through pinions 25 and 25 or through pinions 25 25 and 25 the pinions 2'5 and 25 being mounted on a shifting block slidable but non-rotatable on the spindle :25 to enable the speed of the spindle 25 to be varied.

Staple forming and inserting 'A length of staple forming wire having been taken as described for a collect or a non-collect run by the beaks 28, 28' it is carried round to the staple-forming position.

For forming the staple, the punch cylinder 5 carries a single ended punch head 14 on a stem 26, the head having a form resembling a gear tooth so that as the cylinder'rotate's the head rolls into one or other recess 15 the sides of which are sloped as indicated at 69. The side walls of the recesses are formed with radial grooves 29 and the base wall of each recess is formed by the ends of "a double-ended plunger 61.

As the cylinders rotate then, if a length of stapleforming Wire is present across the recess 15, the punch forces that length into the recess (or more precisely into the grooves 29 in the recess) with the result that the familiar U-shaped staple is formed. In passing into the recess the punch forces the plunger 61 into the staple forming recess in the cylinder 6 and the formed staple, now held in the recess, by its frictional engagement with the grooves 29, is'carried around with the cylinder 6 until the formed staple registers with a clinching die 17 onthe c liecting'cylinder 2. Thepunch cylinder "S being one-half the diameter of the holding cylinder 6 has by this time presented the punch head 14 to the'other end of the plunger 61 and in consequence the plunger 61 is forced in at one end bythe punch and out at the other end which latter ejects the formed staple and forces it through the webs W to be stapled, the ends of the legs of the staple being clenched over by the die 17.

The plunger 61 is formed of a light-weight material such as fibre mass incorporated in a moulded synthetic resin so that it has little intertia and being disposed almost symmetrically about the axis of rotation of the cylinder 6 in each of its two positions is subjected to little centrifugal action biasing it against or for movement under that force. It may be desirable to damp the to and fro movement of the plunger 61 by forming one or other or both of the bushes 61' in which the plunger moves as split bushes to which spring pressure can be applied to urge the bush parts towards one another. The spring pressure can be adjustable to enable the damping to be regulated.

The staple forming length of wire having been taken by the beaks 28, 28, it is carried round between the periphery of the cylinder 6 and the inner edge of a control plate 62 which prevents the wire from being flung clear of the beaks in the short peripheral distance from the wire feed point to the point of cooperation with the punch head 14. This plate 62 is as shown arranged to provide a recess 62' which permits the wire to be passed into position to be severed by the knife 12. The plate also has a striking surface 62 which, as soon as the knife 12 has cut the staple-forming length of wire 8, forces the severed length into recesses formed in the end of the plunger 61 (which at this time is at the outer end of its travel) and in the fixed beak block 28' as well as in an end plate 62 which closes the staple-forming recess. The length of wire is thus flush with the surfaces of the cylinder while itis driven around to the staple forming position by the beaks and it is prevented from passing askew of the cylinder. This plate may as shown in Figure 9 be extended at 63 towards the staple inserting zone and provide between itself and the periphery of the cylinder 6 a gap 64 which decreases towards the wire taking zone, the plate thus acting to return the plunger 61 to the correct initial radial position for the commencement of the staple forming operation.

Both ends of the plunger 61 could be employed to be driven in alternately by the punch head 14 in a staple forming operation, while the other end drives home and clenches a previously formed staple: this would however necessitate that two staples would be formed (one at each end of the plunger), each rotation of the holding cylinder 6 which (in the case where transverse staples are being formed) would require a large diameter of holding cylinder since the half-circumferential length of the cylinder must equal the copy length for a non-collect run. It is therefore preferred to use only one end of the plunger to cooperate with the punch head 14 in forming a staple and the other end to be .idle in stapleforming but acting to be driven in by the punch head during the staple-driving action.

It will of course be clear that the centres of rotation of the punch cylinder 5, the holding cylinder 6 and the collecting cylinder 2 must be in line. As is shown in Figure 3, these cylinders 2, 5, 6 are intergeared by gears 20, 21, 22 to rotate together at the required speeds.

It will now be understood that the invention provides an arrangement which is well adapted for high speed operation in the production of stapled products collected or non-collected.

What we claim is:

1. For use in association with rotary mechanism for cutting webs into sheets and operating to deliver the sheets in the form of a collected product or in the form of a non-collected product, a rotary stapling mechanism to staple a collected product or a non-collected product,

said mechanism comprising a staple-forming cylinder having a staple-forming and holding recess, a punch cylinder adjacent said forming cylinder, means to feed staple wire to the forming cylinder, wire-engaging means on the forming cylinder movable from wire-engaging position to an inactive non-engaging position, means to simulta neously and oppositely rotate the cylinders whereby a length of wire engaged by said engaging means is punched by said punch cylinder into and formed by the recess in the forming cylinder at one point in its rotation, means to eject the formed staple from said recess at a later point in the rotation of the forming cylinder, and means engaging and controlling the wire-engaging means to hold the wire-engagingmeans in wire-engaging position in each rotation of the forming cylinder for stapling a noncollected product or to move the wire-engaging means to its inactive position in one rotation of the forming cylinder and into its active wire-engaging position in the following rotation of the forming cylinder for stapling a collected product.

2. For use in association with rotary mechanism for cutting webs into sheets and operating to deliver the sheets in the form of a collected product or in the form of a non-collected product, a rotary stapling mechanism to staple a collected product or a non-collected product, said mechanism comprising a staple-forming cylinder, 21 wire-engaging component on said cylinder, means to feed staple wire to said component, means engaging and controlling the wire-engaging component to hold the wireengaging component in engaging position in each rotation of the forming cylinder for a non-collected product or to hold such component in engaging position in every other rotation of the cylinder for a collected product, a punch cylinder adjacent the forming cylinder, means to simultaneously and oppositely rotate the cylinders so that a length of wire engaged by the engaging component is punched by the punch cylinder into a forming recess in the forming cylinder at one point in its rotation, means to eject the formed staple at a later point in the rotation of the forming cylinder to effect the stapling of a product, and means having mechanical engagement with and controlling the wire-feeding means for stapling collected or non-collected products.

3. Stapling mechanism as claimed in claim 2 wherein the wire-engaging component is movably mounted on the forming cylinder, said means engaging and controlling the wire-engaging component comprising cam means to move the wire-engaging component from engaging to nonengaging position as the forming cylinder rotates.

4. Stapling mechanism as claimed in claim 2 wherein the wire-engaging component comprises a member pivotally carried by the forming cylinder, said means engaging and controlling the wire-engaging component comprising a rotating cam means engaging said member to control its movement from wire-engaging position to inactive nonengaging position, and means for rendering the cam means inoperative.

5. Stapling mechanism as claimed in claim 2 for forming transverse staples and wherein the wire-engaging component is formed in two parts disposed about a recess in the forming cylinder, one part being fixed in position and the other part nearer the point of wire feed being movable on the forming cylinder from a wire-engaging position t an inoperative position.

6. For use in association with rotary mechanism for cutting webs into sheets and operating to deliver the sheets in the form of a collected product or in the form of a non-collected product, a rotary stapling mechanism to staple a collected product or a non-collected product, said mechanism comprising a staple-forming cylinder having a staple-forming and holding recess, a plunger slidable diametrically in said cylinder, a punch cylinder adjacent the forming cylinder having a punch element, a die cylinder adjacent the forming cylinder, a wire-engaging component on the forming cylinder, means to feed staple wire to the engaging means, means engaging and controlling the wire-engaging component to set the engaging component for wire-engaging operation in each rotation of the forming cylinder for stapling a noncollected product or in every other rotation of the forming cylinder for stapling a collected product, and means to rotate the cylinders whereby said punch element acts at one point on the rotation of the forming cylinder against one end of the plunger to form a staple and at a diametrically opposite point in the rotation of the forming cylinder acts against the other end of the plunger to eject the formed staple and to clench it against the die cylinder by pressure transmitted through the plunger.

7. For use in association with rotary mechanism for cutting webs into sheets and operating to deliver the sheets in the form of a collected product or in the form of a non-collected product, a rotary stapling mechanism to staple a collected product or a non-collected product, said stapling mechanism comprising a staple-forming cylinder having a staple-forming and holding recess, a plunger slidable diametrically in said cylinder and extending into the recess, a punch cylinder adjacent said forming cylinder having a punch element, a die cylinder adjacent said forming cylinder, a wire-engaging component on the forming cylinder, means to feed staple wire to the engaging means at a point ahead of the zone of operation of the punch, means engaging and controlling the wire engaging component to set the engaging component for wire-engaging operation in each rotation of the forming cylinder for stapling a non-collected product or in every other rotation of the forming cylinder for stapling a collected product, guide means to force a length of wire into location on the wire-engaging component as it moves toward the zone of operation of the punch, and means to rotate the cylinders whereby said punch element acts at one point in the rotation of the forming cylinder against one end of the plunger to form a staple in the recess and at a diametrically opposite 8 point in the rotation of the forming cylinder acts against the other end of the plunger to eject the formed staple from the recess to clench the staple against the die cylinder by pressure transmitted through the plunger.

8. A rotary stapling mechanism comprising a rotary staple-forming cylinder having an opening, a plunger diametrically slidable in said cylinder between two positions in one of which one end of such plunger forms the bottom of said opening to cooperate therewith to form a recess, means for moving staple wire across said recess, a die cylinder adjacentsaid staple-forming cylinder, and common means operable in one rotated position of said staple-forming cylinder for forcing a length of wire into said recess to form a staple, and operative in another rotated position of said staple-forming cylinder for engaging the other end of said plunger to move the latter to the other of its positions to eject the formed staple from said recess and clench it against said die cylinder.

9. Apparatus according to claim 8 wherein said common means comprises a punch cylinder carrying a punch fixed with respect thereto and projecting therefrom, and means for rotating said punch cylinder in predetermined timed relation to and simultaneously with said forming cylinder and in the opposite direction, said fixed punch element being movable into said recess to form the staple therein in one rotated position of said punch cylinder and being movable against the other end of said plunger in the same rotated position of the punch cylinder when said other end of said plunger is in alignment with .said punch element.

References Cited in'the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Zuckerm-an Dec. 5, 1944 

